


When Zaeed's stories are useful.

by CristalDePhoenix



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Drinking, Gen, Holiday Harbinger 2019, It's Zaeed, Swearing, how could it not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22531648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CristalDePhoenix/pseuds/CristalDePhoenix
Summary: Zaeed always has a story to compare to, even if it sounds like a fish story. But what if their not? And what if it's useful for once?
Relationships: Bain Massani & Zaeed Massani
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	When Zaeed's stories are useful.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [joufancyhuh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joufancyhuh/gifts).



> Hey! I'm your Holiday Harbinger giftee! Hope you enjoy, as it was a nice challenge to come up with something in a pairing I've never written before. Hope you like it! Thanks to Angelwingsl3 for the brainstorming and beta read!

Shepard poured another drink for the both of them, handing the other off to Zaeed. Zaeed didn't even let it hit the table before it was empty again. The pleasant burn of the neat whiskey mollifying the burn of their souls on what happened. They lost Thessia to Cerberus and the Reapers, and now, back at the Citadel, Shepard is having drinks with one of the few hardened veterans that understand him. Zaeed, for his part, didn't mind the good booze and was always ready to compare it to one of his life's stories. For once though, they were just quiet together. Which suited Shepard's mood just fine.

After a few more drinks, Zaeed couldn’t stand the silence any more. “So, Shepard. Thessia was a goddamn cock-up, heh? Don’t worry. You’ll find a way to beat the Reapers. You somehow always seem to pull off the impossible.” He looked into the bottom of his empty tumbler with his one good eye, like it had all the answers.

Shepard frowned at that. “How the fuck can you say that Zaeed? I just lost us Thesia to Kai Leng, to Cerberus, and by extension the Reapers. I don’t even know how long Earth or Palaven will hold out if this keeps up, and somehow, by whatever the fuck miracle, I’m supposed to save them all? We don’t even know if the Crucible will do anything, but it’s useless without the last piece! And now Cerberus knows what that is, and we don’t! Never mind that the Asari have been holding out on us! Could have ended the war already if those selfish, high and mighty Matriarchs could look past their tits and just work together!” Shepard slammed his glass back down on the table, slightly drunk and saying exactly what was on his mind. Here in the empty lounge of the Normandy, there was no one to judge his outburst but his drinking partner.

Zaeed side-eyed Shepard, not used to seeing such an outburst from the soldier. He was always calm and collected. Making the hard choices when it was needed. Now though? He didn’t blame him. This war was bringing out the worst in people, and after such a big loss, Zaeed was surprised Shepard wasn’t fighting with the Asari Councilor over costing them the war till now. Then again, who was he to talk? I did remind him of another story though. One he doesn’t regularly share.

“I hear ya, Shepard. You’ve taught me the meaning of never accepting it’s over till it’s over. And this ain’t over yet. The situation is a little similar to one I’ve had, many years ago.” Zaeed fiddled with his tumbler as he spoke, not really sure if his story would help, but tongue loosened by the booze, just like Shepard’s. He sighed and poured them both another shot. He’s gonna need it for this story.

Shepard looked up, frown still in place, but holding his glass for the next shot. “Excuse me for not believing that your story is anywhere near similar to losing Thesia in this blasted war?” Though he was sceptical, he was listening. Good, he’d start with that.

Downing probably his 5th shot, Zaeed spoke up. “Yeah, sure. Not exactly the same, but it felt goddamn heart-wrenching at the time. And I thought I was the only one to make it out alive-”

“Oh please. Not another one of those stories where you’re supposedly the only one that survives. I don’t think half of those are true.” Shepard cut him off, not in the mood for tall tales, words starting to slur slightly.

Zaeed glared back at him, pulling away the booze bottle from refilling his glass again. “Yeah, like a certain soldier I know. Supposedly a back from the dead Spectre; that went to a lost Prothean world; jumped across the galaxy through a relay to the Presidium that no one knew was a Relay, and killed a rogue Spectre. Then hunted down and killed all the mythical Collectors,- in their home base, no less- through the never before traversed Omega 4 Relay; Found A Living Prothean; and is now building an unknown weapon to defeat the god-like Reapers. I don’t think I believe half of that shit either.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

Shepard let his head hit the table and gave a resigned sigh, holding up his empty glass to the whiskey keeper. “Fine. You got me there.” He lifted his head. “So what happened on this one time you thought you were the only one to make it out alive?”

Smiling like a dog that got the bone, he refilled Shepard’s glass and his own, before laying into his story.

“This happened many years back. God, it feels like two lifetimes ago between this war, and Vido shooting me in the head.” He took a sip of his drink, getting a far off look. “We’d just started the Blue Suns. We were very popular between the ladies since we were making a lot of money, you see.” He took another sip. “I was going out with this girl, Cathrine her name was. Nice girl, good with a shotgun and good head on her shoulders. Anyway, as things go, one day, she came to me and said she was pregnant! With my baby! Can you believe it? Me? As a dad?” He gave a chuckle, shaking his head. Shepard joined in the chuckle.

“You’re right, Zaeed. You as a dad? What a nightmare that would have been.” Shepard sipped at his drink when Zaeed backhanded him lightly, making him choke on his drink.

“Not funny Shepard.”Zaeed turned back to his drink and sighed. “But yeah. Considering what happened later, it was a nightmare.” He downed the rest of his drink and immediately refilled it.

“Some months passed and Cathrine was getting really big, so she stopped going out on jobs with us and stayed in the base, doing some admin. She grumbled all day about doing admin, but what else was she to do anyway? She always looked great when she was angry.” Zaeed got a faint smile at that.

The smile faded soon tough. “But as things in my life go, it wasn’t meant to last. We were out on a job when one of our early rivals attacked the base. Some Spanish upstart that wanted our turf, since we were the first human mercenary band that was making a success of things in between the new aliens back then. They sent us out on a fake job so they could attack the base, take out our support structure. Hoping to weaken us enough that they could attack us head-on and win. The bastards, didn’t realise that we didn’t need that much support, but all the same. By the time we got back, the base was in flames and there was only me and a small group to fend off the other mercs. Can’t even remember what their names were.” Zaeed scratched his head.

“So me and this group have to go through their entire band to get back to the base and try and save whatever and whoever was left. Was one of the hardest battles of my life, coz you know for every minute you take longer, the higher the chances are that no one will be left behind to save. Some of my band made mistakes in their haste and got killed for it. Seems I wasn’t the only one with something to lose. By the time I killed their leader, there were only a few of us left. The few of his remaining troops scattered and I rushed to the base. I broke some water pipes to help with the fire, and by the time I suppressed the fire enough to run in, I couldn’t find anyone.”

Shepard looked on in sympathy but didn’t say anything, knowing the grizzled old merc would not accept it, so instead held out his empty glass for him to refill, which he did. “I searched through those smouldering ashes day and night until I found what I thought was Cathrine’s body. I was so blinded by rage, that I took the handful of men I had, and rushed the enemy base head-on. Without their leader, luckily they were disorganised. But numbers still count. Eventually, I was the only one left, but I planted a bomb on their main generator and blew the place sky high. Best goddamn fireworks I ever made, but it was an empty victory.”

Down goes another tumbler of whiskey, the glass hitting the counter with a thump. Shepard knew he shouldn’t try walking at this stage, so was stuck until he would be sure no one could witness his wobble to the elevator and the safety of his cabin. Zaeed looked like he would fare better, but instead of slowing down, he was speeding up in his drinking. “You shaid you thhoughth you were thhe only one lefth. How’d ya find them?” Try as he might, he couldn’t stop the words from slurring. Even with all his Cerberus upgrades, he still could get drunk. He just didn’t stay drunk very long or have much of a hangover the next day.

Somehow, Zaeed sounded perfectly sober even if his movements were getting sloppy. “Yeah, I did. Many years went by, and Vido did his little coup. I had just recovered from another injury on the job, and was on strict orders to get bed rest, so I was wondering around Illium. There, I saw this young tyke, couldn’t be more than 12, running around the markets. He looked just like me when I was a kid. I followed him from a distance until he ran home. And there I saw her again. Cathrine. Beautiful as she ever was, even with the scars on her face from the fire. I knew then that that was my boy, he was about the right age.” It seemed like now was the time for Zaeed to stop his story.

“Why didn’th you go to her?” Shepard finally asked though it sounded less sincere with his slurring.

“I wanted to, don’t get me wrong Shepard, but what would I do? Hey kid, I’m your dad you didn’t know your whole life, and I’ll be gone on work a lot and probably die on one of them. Great dad material that would be.” Zaeed sneered, though not unkindly. He sighed again and stopped his drinking, playing with the tumbler on the counter between his fingers. “No, I realised then that I’d just be a hindrance in their lives, if not a hazard. I wanted more for him than just being some merc. So I found out what their names were and made sure I used my contacts to open doors for them so he could be whatever he wanted to be. Turned out Cathrine gave him my last name and Bain as a first. We’d talked about a few names, and Bain was one of them. She now goes under the name Josephine and is pretty well off for herself as a single mom. I paid anonymously for tutors in schooling and whatever he had an interest in. Turned out he was a bit like his old man and was good at combat. So I had an instructor friend of mine teach him all he needed and set him up in the private security sector. Safe and easy credits. It’s what I could do from behind the scenes so they could live without need, without mucking up their lives.”

“That’sh really nishe of you Zaeed.” Shepard slurred, knowing he was done drinking before he wouldn’t remember this in the morning. And he’d like to remember this.

“Yeah. Probably the only good thing I did for someone else before I joined your crusade. The point I’m try’n to make is this: Never give up Shepard. Even when you think things are done, they might not be.”

The silence stretched between them before Shepard asked the inevitable question. “Do you know where he issh now? In all of thish?”

Zaeed looked solemn for a bit but answered. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. He got roped into some initiative to take him and a bunch of people to the next galaxy. Can you believe that? Going to another galaxy? In our lifetimes? We didn’t even know aliens existed when I was a lad, and now we already sent people off to another galaxy! It makes sense though. At least some of us will survive this shitshow with the Reapers.”

Shepard grunted an affirmation. It didn’t make their current situation any better, but at least they knew, somewhere out there, some of their people would not have to go through the horrors that were the Reaper harvest. And, somehow, Zaeed’s pep talk came through to Shepard. It isn’t over till it’s over.


End file.
